Fascinating Facts About Global Energy

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Coal, hydroelectric and oil are increasingly in high demand to meet the world’s growing appetite for power. In fact, global energy consumption grew 5.6 percent in 2010, the highest rate since 1973. Discover 10 other fascinating facts about worldwide consumption.

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Countries belonging to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) experienced their strongest demand for energy since 1984, up 3.5 percent. In contrast, power consumption in Non-OECD countries grew 7.5 percent in 2010.

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China’s 11.2% energy consumption growth made it the world’s largest energy consumer, pushing the U.S. from the top spot. China accounted for just over 20% of all the energy consumed in the world during 2010.

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China’s total energy consumption has grown an astounding 134 percent since 2000, but it’s not the largest increase over that time. Vietnam’s total energy consumption increased 148 percent from 2000 to 2010, though the country’s 44 million tons of oil consumption would only meet China’s energy needs for about a week.

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World-proved oil reserves in 2010 were sufficient to meet 46.2 years of global production. The Middle East holds 752.5 million barrels of oil, more than half the world’s total. South and Central America is a distant second with 17 percent of proved oil reserves.

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Colombia experienced the largest percentage of oil production expansion in 2010 at 16.9 percent, just nudging out Nigeria’s 16.2 percent output. Meanwhile, Uzbekistan had the largest decline as productivity fell by 17.8 percent.

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Qatar’s proved natural gas reserves have exploded 98 percent since 1990 and today account for 13.5 percent of the world’s output, third highest behind Russia and Iran. Qatar’s natural gas production has experienced a similar rise, growing 30.7 percent in 2010.

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Coal supplies nearly 30 percent of global energy due to strong consumption demand from China and the developed world—where coal expenditure grew at the fastest pace in 30 years. The U.S. holds the largest reserves of coal (28 percent) but China accounts for roughly 48 percent of the world’s demand.

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Brazil’s use of hydroelectricity has increased 30 percent since 2000 and the country accounts for nearly 12 percent of the world’s total. China accounts for slightly more than 20 percent of worldwide consumption and saw its hydroelectric use increase by more than 5 percent in 2010.

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Consumption of renewable energy has skyrocketed 209 percent over the past 10 years, far outpacing coal’s 48 percent jump. Nearly one-quarter of the total renewable energy usage comes from the U.S. which uses 121 percent more renewable energy than it did a decade ago.

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China has surpassed the west to emerge as the world’s largest manufacturer and producer of solar panels. Wind, solar and biomass energy are expected to represent 8 percent of the country’s energy output by 2020.

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